kestrel

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The Boke of St Albans defines the hawk appropriate to each social station: the eagle for an emperor, the peregrine for an earl, and so down the scale until the kestrel is assigned to a "knave".

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various small falcons belonging to the genus Falco that are distributed worldwide, especially the American kestrel and the European kestrel.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • You can build your own bluebird, wren, bat, robin, kestrel or wood duck nest box from a kit to provide for wildlife in your world.
  • Robb Herbst called the kestrel the prettiest bird of prey in the Roanoke Valley area. —  The Roanoke Times: Home page
  • We have a substantial river and smaller burns; barn owls (which share the steading with us), tawny owls, buzzards, sparrowhawks, hen harriers, kestrel, heron, frogs, toads, otters, badgers, foxes, deer (various), lots more fauna - and overflying aircraft en route to Glasgow and Prestwick, so that seems to cover all the bases for the evolution of a theory! —  BBC (UK) Homepage main promotional content
  • Posts: 451 kestrel, sorry, but I take offense of yer reference to those HACKS in context concerning the Marxs Brothers. —  Mandolin Cafe News
  • - A beautiful silicon rendition of the American kestrel, drawn by Lynn Mahnke, was incorporated into a Hewlett-Packard numerically-controlled oscillator / mixer integrated circuit.
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Probably from obsolete French cresserelle, from Old French cresserele, probably from cresselle, clacker, kestrel.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also kestril, castrel, kastrel, kastril; with medial t developed between s and r, from Old French quercerelle, also written cercerelle, crescerelle, French crécerelle, a kestrel: cf. Italian tristarello (Florio) for cristarello, diminutive of quercello, a kestrel; Old French cercelle, a teal, French sarcclle, a teal, F. dial, cristel, a kestrel; Spanish cerceta, a kestrel; all from Latin querquedula, a kind of teal: see Querquedula. The forms showmuch variation, due in part to different manipulations of the diminutive ending.
 

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/ˈkɛstrɛl/
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